


Coffee

by perplexed (orphan_account)



Series: Young!Ian/Older!Anthony [2]
Category: Smosh
Genre: Coffee Shops, M/M, Older Man/Younger Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-15
Updated: 2015-04-15
Packaged: 2018-03-23 04:04:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3753805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/perplexed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Ian grumbled slightly and rolled over in bed, grasping blindly at his phone which had just beeped annoyingly at eight in the morning on a Saturday. None of his friends were up that early, surely? Regardless, thinking it might be important, he squinted at the bright screen and unlocked his phone so he could read whatever text had woken him up.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Another bit of getting to know you fluff in this new AU for you guys!!
> 
> JUST A NOTE: Ian is legal and of age (18) in this fic.

Ian grumbled slightly and rolled over in bed, grasping blindly at his phone which had just beeped annoyingly at eight in the morning on a Saturday. None of his friends were up that early, surely? Regardless, thinking it might be important, he squinted at the bright screen and unlocked his phone so he could read whatever text had woken him up.

He hadn’t been expecting a text from Anthony, the stranger from the bookstore, and he certainly hadn’t been expecting one with a picture. Squinting more until his phone came into focus, the picture showed Anthony with running gear on, a smoothie in his free hand and a grin on his face. It was followed by a text.

‘Oh God, I’m so sorry, that was meant for someone else!’

Groaning, Ian pushed his hair off his face and sighed. He was awake, there was no skirting around it, and no getting back to sleep once he was up in the morning either. To think, he’d been looking forwards to a lie in as well. He rolled his eyes and coughed before texting back.

‘It’s okay. This book is killing me.’ he texted back, figuring he might as well make some idle conversation. After all, Anthony had said to text if the book gave him any trouble, and boy was it doing exactly that. Ian just couldn’t wrap his head around it no matter how hard he tried.

‘Oh right, you’re the guy from the bookstore!’ came the reply, followed shortly by, ‘What’s perplexing you?’

Ian sat up in bed and pushed the sheets down his body, finding it suddenly too warm to be wrapped up in them.

‘Everything about it, hah.’

While he waited for a reply, he scrolled up to look at the accidental picture. Anthony was standing on a busy street, unabashedly taking a selfie with confidence while people breezed past him. His hair was matted down to his head in places and his skin had a light sheen of sweat on it. Ian could see his tan arms in the tank top he was wearing, and he shuddered a little bit as his morning wood made itself known.

With a grunt, he lay down again and willed it to go away, scrolling away from the picture again. The last thing he felt like doing so early in the morning was getting off, even if he was a teenage boy.

‘If you want my help you’ll have to be a bit more specific ;)’

Ian tapped idly at his phone as he thought how to respond.

‘I have to write an essay on the theme of innocence in the book, and I have no idea where to start.’

Ian spent the best part of two hours just texting back and forward with Anthony. He discovered a few things, most of them about that damned book, and a few things about Anthony himself which were far more intriguing and interesting than Lennie’s innocence.

He discovered that Anthony had been out running that morning, that he lived in LA but was staying with family in Sacramento for a week, he had a cat called Pip and finally, that he was successful, but for some reason Anthony wouldn’t say what he was successful doing. Anthony learned some things about Ian too - namely that he was eighteen and had just passed his driving test, but Ian had given up some other information too, like the fact he lived in Sacramento but wanted to move to LA someday.

Ian theorised why Anthony could be so secretive over his job. Maybe he was famous and Ian just had no idea, he thought, then pushed that to the back of his mind when he got another picture, this time of a cat with a zip tie in its mouth lying across Anthony’s lap, captioned simply with ‘This is Pip!’.

He thought for a moment before finally getting out of bed. Ian tugged on some sweatpants over his boxers and headed downstairs, all but having to chase his and his parents’ dog down in the yard to get a good picture of him. He sent the picture over to Anthony, who sent back a grinning smiley face.

Ian’s skin prickled slightly as he sat down on the back porch steps in the sunshine, imagining Anthony’s bright, warm grin.

‘So what are you doing today?’ Ian eventually texted back. He didn’t know why, but meeting up seemed like a good idea. He was bored and had nothing planned with his friends… For all he knew, Anthony could have been a serial killer, but something told him that the still almost-stranger was far more harmless than that.

‘Nothing, apart from eating my mom’s cooking because she thinks I’m too skinny. Why, wanna go on a date? ;)’

Ian’s mouth dropped open a little before he caught himself and closed it. Did the handsome, older man he met only a few days before just hint at a date? He chuckled and shook his head. Anthony was obviously a joker.

‘I was thinking more casual coffee but hey, if you wanna call it a date, I’m okay with that ;)’ Ian replied, a flirty smirk pulling at his lips. If an older, attractive man was flirting with him, he wasn’t going to say no to flirting back.

‘Let’s call it a date then, cutie. Where should I meet you, and when?’

Ian took a deep breath in through his nose. What if he was getting out of his depth with this flirting lark? Especially with an older man… He’d heard all sorts of horror stories, not to mention his mother’s warning talks with him as a child, telling him not to talk to strangers and not to go anywhere with them…

In a fit of either stupidity, boldness or being flattered, he texted back with a, ‘Cutie? ;)’ and resisted the urge to throw his phone away after sending it.

‘Yep, you’re cute.’ came the reply. Ian felt a blush rise on his cheeks and he sighed down his nose again, though he was smiling slightly at the flattering compliments.

‘How about you meet me at the coffee place on the corner of Fifth and Cherry? In three hours?’ Ian tapped out the response before hovering over the send button with his thumb for a moment, hesitating as he thought again about whether he wanted to meet the mysterious stranger. In another fit of boldness, (or stupidity,) he sent the text.

‘Sounds good to me. See you there, cutie ;)’

\---

Three hours later, Ian was standing outside the coffee shop. He’d fobbed his mother off with some lies about going to a friend’s house, (they were out of town in reality,) and swiftly escaped after that. He hadn’t made much of an effort which, with hindsight, he kind of wished he had what with all the joking about it being a date. He’d brought his ratty backpack along with him, carrying his study notes and battered copy of Of Mice and Men with him. Ian was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and as soon as Anthony walked into view he felt underdressed.

Anthony was wearing a plaid button down shirt over a white t-shirt that clung to his abdominal muscles, with a pair of jeans that looked almost verging on uncomfortably tight. In a word, he looked phenomenal. Ian blushed a little as Anthony got closer, scuffing his tattered Converse against the sidewalk.

“Hey, cutie,” Anthony said once he was within talking distance, and Ian felt another bright red blush rise up onto his features. “Nah, I’m kidding. Let’s get coffee and I’ll see if I can help you understand this book a little better.”

Ian couldn’t shake the blush from his features as they walked into the coffee shop, Anthony’s hand brushing over Ian’s side when he directed Ian towards a quiet corner of the cafe-style interior doubtlessly didn’t help matters any.

“What do you want? I’ll pay,” Anthony said simply, and Ian could tell that it would be no use to argue with him even though he had his own money.

“Just a hot chocolate, please,” Ian said politely, and Anthony smiled and shook his head a couple of times.

“Cute,” the taller man said, reaching over to pat Ian’s head lightly. Ian felt like his face was positively glowing, it must have been, judging by how hot it felt.

Instead of silently waiting and awkwardly pretending to check his phone, Ian got his book and notes out of his bag and laid them out on the table in front of the sofa he’d sat down on. Once he was finished with re-reading his notes, Anthony was back with two mugs in tow and a grin on his face, the same warm, inviting grin he’d given Ian in the bookstore.

“So.” Anthony elected to sit next to Ian instead of on the armchair opposite, spreading himself out across one side of the sofa. “What’re you having trouble with?”

\---

Before either of them knew it, a good hour had passed, and they hadn’t really got on to talking about the book at all. Anthony seemed to be far more interested in finding out what he could about Ian and, Ian thought, it had gone more like an actual date like the kind you see in movies than a study session. His notes sat neglected on the table while Ian cupped a fresh cup of hot chocolate in his hands, sipping from it as delicately as he could manage to while Anthony talked about how he was vegan, and how he’d come to the decision to change his lifestyle.

Ian was only half listening, if he was honest. He spent much of his time gazing longingly at Anthony like a young schoolboy with a terrible crush. (He supposed that, really, that’s what he was.) Ian had noticed that Anthony’s eyes were a gorgeous shade of chocolate brown that could rival even the deepest and darkest of eyes, and that when they caught the light they were almost amber. He’d noticed the way that Anthony tapped his foot when he was thinking, the way Anthony ruffled his hair when he laughed…

God, Ian had it bad, and he barely knew the guy. Finally he was snapped out of his reverie when Anthony laughed again.

“Zoning out a bit there, buddy?” Anthony asked, and Ian found himself blushing and nodding.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Ian replied, curling up on his end of the sofa as he sipped at his hot chocolate. He nudged his notes towards Anthony and made a face. “I guess we should talk about this shit, right?”

“You’re absolutely right,” Anthony nodded. “So, what’re you stuck on?”

\---

Ian left the coffee shop an hour later, with a smile on his face and his notes safely tucked into his backpack. Anthony had offered him a lift home but, with a laugh, Ian had explained that he’d lied to his mom about where he was going and who he was with. Anthony had just given him a knowing smile and nod before holding his arms out for a hug.

That had pleasantly surprised Ian. He knew they’d been flirting since Anthony had accidentally sent that picture of himself, but he hadn’t been expecting any kind of hug. Shyly, he’d leaned up and wrapped his arms around Anthony’s shoulders, holding on a little tighter than he wanted to admit to. Anthony smelled of clean laundry and cologne and he held Ian was as much voracity as Ian held him. His hands fell onto Ian’s lower back, and Ian had let out a content, small sigh as they parted.

“Text you tomorrow,” Anthony had promised, and as Ian started the walk back to his house, he had no reason to doubt the older man’s promise.


End file.
